Reconnecting with my first childhood computer.

Thanks to forum member vwestlife, I'm finally getting a chance to reconnect with my first childhood computer, the CompuAdd 810!



The first thing that struck me about it is that it feels TINY compared to the way it felt when I was using it at 6-8 years old! I guess since I kept all my other machines as I was growing up I always had a frame of reference for them at whatever size I was, but I didn't for this one so I felt like I was pulling a miniature version out of the box. But I know the one I had wasn't the 'full-sized' CompuAdd chassis that was out there, either, as I distinctly remember the ISA riser.

I originally used mine with an amber monochrome monitor in Hercules graphics mode, but I don't know where to find a monitor like that these days, so I suppose I'll be using the VGA card that vwestlife included with the machine. I also thought the sound card and the internal speaker for it were interesting additions. Unfortunately, vwestlife didn't have a working hard drive for it, and the one IDE-XT drive I had managed to hang on to all these years also seems to be nonfunctional now, so I guess I'll have to go with an XT-IDE to use this thing with a hard disk now.

I've already done my first modification to the machine. The 3.5" floppy is obviously the wrong height for the slot, so vwestlife had the top of the original faceplate cut off and taped in above a standard height 3.5" floppy drive. I didn't care for the tape, so I took it out, evened up the bottom edge a little, and permanently attached it to the front of the case with superglue.

This thing's gonna be a little awkward for me to use without a hard drive, but once I get an XT-IDE in there I can start having some real fun!

Cool! I also love finding PC's I used when younger.

Show us a pic of inside

Here are some more pics (I've been kinda busy and didn't get a chance to take them until now).

Rear of the machine (when I saw this view of it, that's when I connected it to the computer I had as a kid):

Inside views:

This CompuAdd originally came with the Western Digital VGA card. It was a strange configuration, being sold with a color VGA monitor but only a 5.25" 360K floppy drive and no hard drive! After I obtained the computer from its original owner, I added the 3.5" 1.44MB floppy drive, Packard Bell OEM Aztech Sound Galaxy BX II (Sound Blaster clone) sound card, and internal speaker (taken from a junked pair of Altec-Lansing ACS-90 speakers).

I also found this ad from March 1991, when CompuAdd was still selling the 810, despite 486 systems already being on the market, and 386SX systems rapidly coming down in price:

https://books.google.com/books?id=f...ZNpK7hOAC&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Oh, I had assumed you added the VGA card. Interesting. I guess that's a difference in the way it was ordered, since mine was definitely set up for Hercules video output.

Mine also came with a 1.2M 5.25" floppy originally instead of the 360k drive (pretty sure it was original as I think it had the same face plate as this one) and while I do remember using a boot disk for some reason (maybe just experimentally) I'm also pretty sure mine came with a 20MB hard drive. At any rate, I have a 20MB XTA hard drive (the apparently nonfunctional one mentioned in the first post) and I don't know what else it would have come out of.

The best way is to never get rid of the first computer you ever had.

(My original Tomy Tutor is still in its original box, and still works.)

ClassicHasClass said:

The best way is to never get rid of the first computer you ever had.

(My original Tomy Tutor is still in its original box, and still works.)

Click to expand...

Well, if I had had the option, I wouldn't have. Three years after he brought it home (after he had brought a couple of 286 laptops in as upgrades), my dad just saw it as a piece of junk taking up space and wanted it gone.

We can't all hold on to everything we own for our entire lives.

I know the feeling. As a kid I used to get them from yard sales and off rubbish piles. My favourite was an Olivetti M24, I loved that thing! Good luck getting another one now...

I just got a request to dump the BIOS for this from a guy who says he's been bugging vwestlife to do it for a long time.

I wanted to upload it here, but received an error (maybe I've hit an attachment limit or something?) so I uploaded it on my free hosting account instead.

EDIT: My host removed the file. Please stand by...

EDIT 2: Okay, I got it uploaded here: http://jmp.sh/v/7dRSZPE6tCqodEdACjXl

EDIT 3: I got it back on my free host. For some reason I can't upload ZIP files anymore, but it was fine with me uploading the uncompressed file:

http://mkgraham.dx.am/CompuAdd810.BIN

jmetal88 said:

I just got a request to dump the BIOS for this from a guy who says he's been bugging vwestlife to do it for a long time.

Well, here you go:

http://mkgraham.dx.am/CompuAddBIOS.zip

I wanted to upload it here, but received an error (maybe I've hit an attachment limit or something?) so I uploaded it on my free hosting account instead.

Click to expand...

That link isn't working for me. Try using http://wikisend.com to upload it.

Looks like my host removed the file. *Sigh*
That's what happens when you don't want to pay a monthly fee, I guess. They have a certain percentage of space I can allocate to non-HTML files and I guess this one exceeded it.

EDIT: Looks like I hadn't exceeded the allotment, but they just for some reason decided I couldn't upload any new archive files.

vwestlife said:

That link isn't working for me. Try using http://wikisend.com to upload it.

Click to expand...

Their Captcha appears to be broken, so I can't sign up (I know I can upload without signing up, but I'd rather have the file under an account I can access).

EDIT: I uploaded it here: http://jmp.sh/57YHyaS

EDIT 2: Backup on my free host again, since I figured out it was just blocking archives for some reason: http://mkgraham.dx.am/CompuAdd810.BIN

Whoops! Nobody use that BIOS yet, it's not a complete dump! I'm an idiot and forgot to check the ROM size in the system manual before dumping it, so I dumped it as if it were a 2764, but in reality it's a 27128 or 27256.

Okay, it's fixed. Use the links in the edited post.

Well, I've been looking for a hard drive for this thing for a while now, since the one I had from years ago apparently no longer functions (spins up nicely, but gives an error 1701 on boot and times out on a low-level format so I think the logic board is dead). I got to the point were I ordered a CompactFlash bracket and a Lo-Tech ISA-CF card to put together and install, but I just couldn't stop myself from looking for an era-appropriate drive on eBay, and I finally got what I think is a decent deal on one.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/201345040518

A couple of weeks ago I submitted an offer of $35 for a drive like this from another seller, and the seller came back at me with $55. I turned down the $55 and came back with $45, which the seller turned down and offered me $55 again. $55 was definitely not worth it, to me, so that's when I ordered the Lo-Tech stuff. Then this drive pops up at only $50, so I try my $35 offer again, and this seller actually accepted it! Only problem is, including the Lo-Tech stuff, I now have over $55 invested in a hard drive solution for this machine anyway, haha. I'm sure I'll still find a use for the Lo-Tech adapter, though.

Sweet! The ST-351A/X appears to be totally compatible with the controller in my system. I had a couple of jumper issues to fix (because the system manual gave me pin numbers to set but the motherboard didn't make it clear which pin on each jumper was Pin 1), but I've got access to all 40MB of the disk now.

I just did the same thing. I have been getting reacquainted with my first machine. an IBM 5155.